Jayapura Immigration Office Finds Visa Misuse

Jayapura, Jubi – The Jayapura Immigration Office said it had found cases of visa misuse by foreign citizens during raids in four locations in Jayapura Municipality and Jayapura Regency last week.

The head of Jayapura Immigration Office, Gardu Tampubolon, who led the operation at Pondok Pesantren Serambi Madinah, Jayapura Selatan sub-district of Jayapura Municipality, said his men discovered 16 students from Papua New Guinea studying at the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) but had visitor visas.

“They should have applied for a student visa. While at the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), we discovered a foreign citizen who works as mechanic while on a visitor visa. But, the airline stated the culprit has not yet signed a contract. He must change his visa,” Tampubolon said on Wednesday (28/10/2015).

He explained the MAF is hiring 112 foreign nationals. In addition to MAF, the immigration officers also visited the Associated Mission Aviation (AMA) in Sentani, Jayapura Regency that employs approximately 25 foreigners who nine are the pilots.

“At PLTU Holtekamp, Muara Tami Sub-district of Jayapura Municipality, we met a Chinese national. But we didn’t find any violation conducted by MAF or PLTU Holtekamp,” he said.

Further Tampubolon remind the companies or those who employ the foreign citizens to provide legal documents for their employees. The Jayapura Immigration Office will not hesitate to take action against those who conduct violations.

“Foreign citizen who is proven on visa violation would be subjected to the Article 122 of the Immigration Law No. 6/2011. The penalty is Rp 500 million. The process will be done in the Court,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of Supervision and Enforcement Department of Jayapura Immigration, Rahmat Arya said the surveillance conducted by his department instead of subject the foreigners with accusing; it is to reduce the misuse of visa and refer to the instruction of the Directorate General of Immigration. (Arjuna Pademme/rom)